6 Days Independent Travel to Khuvsgol Lake from Ulaanbaatar

Flights between Ulaanbaatar and Murun are available, the journey take 1.5 hours with the single-way airfare of USD140. Murun is a transit station, it is about 678km away from Ulaanbaatar and about 100km to Khuvsgol Lake. Once you are at Murun no matter by flight or bus, another 3-hour land transfer is needed to the lake.

The flight tickets will be sold out quickly in high seasons, especially during Nadam Festival.

The second way is to take the long distance bus to Murun. The buses leaving from Ulaanbaatar Dragon Bus Station have a daily departure at 8 a.m. and 3 or 4 p.m., the journey takes about 15-17 hours. If you leave for Murun in the morning, it must be midnight when you are there. No need to worry where to stay this evening, since many landlords are waiting outside to promote their rooms, you just choose one who can communicate in English. And then take another bus or carpool with other travelers in the next morning.

The third way is still land transfer from Ulaanbaatar. That is to hire a car or carpool from the guesthouse with other travelers to the lake directly, which takes about 10 hours.

There are many yurts or camping bases near the lake. Book one of them for your several days' stay.

The base camp offer many kinds of hiking routes including to the lakeside forest at a reasonable price. But if you prefer to do it by yourself, then make the plan in advance or ask some advice from the locals. Generally, the hiking takes about 3 hours a single way. Lunch is packed by the camp and sent by speedboat. You can go back to the camp by this boat or walk back if you are still energetic.

The afternoon is free. It can be said to be an outdoor paradise by the lake. Mountain climbing, fishing, horseback riding or boating are all popular programs. If you don't want to do any of each, it's very comfortable to take a walk along the lake or sit by the lake or just read a book.

BBC has a documentary about the Mongolian Navy. Charter a car from the camping base to the naval base. Three ships, two guns, an engine and seven members are all the possessions of the naval base. During normal navigation, it only takes some transportation tasks.

Take part in a bicycle tour around the lake arranged by the base camp, horse riding is also the one that you cannot miss.

Accompanied by the tour guide, visit the reindeer family of the Mongolian minority, to know more about the herdsmen's life.

Khuvsgol Lake is the largest freshwater lake in Mongolia, with a length of about 120 km, accounting for 2% of the global freshwater resources. Hire a speedboat and ride for about 60km to a small island full of seagulls in the lake to enjoy the marvelous scenery. The speedboat is about USD300 per boat.

The way back to Ulaanbaatar is the same as that you came here. You can take long distance bus for about 5 hours to Burgan firstly, and then continue your journey for about one hour to Erdente, where you can connect a train to Sukhbaatar, the border city of Mongolia. The international trains and buses are all available at Sukhbaatar. Buses can take you to Naushki, the border city of Russia side, while the train can take you running through the whole trans-Siberia route to Moscow.